Curated Arts, Culture and Entertainment

Menu

Tag Archives: Sunglasses

Basquiat’s work was iconic, imbued with a level of unabashed emotion and power that street art hadn’t seen when he first began wreaking havoc on New York in the ’80s. By addressing charged themes like racism, politics and hypocrisy, the young painter gave new depth to graffiti art and infiltrated the world of high-brow aficionados with a personal, outsider approach.

Designer eyewear brand Etnia Barcelona has tapped into this narrative, creating a capsule collection of sunglasses that incorporate Basquiat-inspired motifs through smart, subtle details. An homage to the late visionary, this exclusive release follows the brand’s mission to develop authentic accessories with an eye for key cultural movements in art and photography.

Four different sunglasses will be available worldwide with patterns based on three original works by Basquiat. Though each individual piece is unique, Etnia Barcelona’s designed the eyewear with three vertices to resemble those hand-drawn, three-point crowns that we’ve grown to associate with Basquiat’s legacy.

We’ve already covered the clothes, bags, and shoes you’ll need to enjoy the desert escapades that Coachella has to offer. Up next? Sunglasses. They’re essential in the desert sun for a few reasons:

1) Protection from the sun
2) Protection from the eyes of security
3) Disguising any lack of sleep
4) Disguising any other… altered states
5) Because they look great

Our favorites range from desert sunset reflecting beauties, to brights, to the glitter filled, to the odd pair that may or may not trip out some of your friends (what is that tiny leopard doing on your face, anyway?) Check ’em out above, then click the links below to shop.

Even when our glasses are smushed, caseless, at the bottom of our bags, they remain essential. I am blind without my distant glasses and 4,000 times chicer in sunglasses. Eyewear is a powerful thing. As such, the CFDA has established an official group for this very important category. They say, “the group’s aim is to inspire, empower, and promote awareness of eyewear design and the vitality of the optical industry through promotion, education, mentoring and collaborative initiatives.” The who’s who reads like a shopping list of every pair of sunnies/optical lenses you’ve ever dreamed of:

Barbara McReynolds, L.A. Eyeworks

Blake Kuwahara, Focus Group West

Christian Roth, Optical Affairs

Daniel Silberman, Illesteva

Gai Gheradi, L.A. Eyeworks

Grant Krajecki, Grey Ant

Justin Salguero, Illesteva

Larry Leight, Oliver Peoples

Natalie Levy, Grey Ant

Patty Perreira, Barton Perreira

Robert Marc, Robert Marc

Selima Salaun, Selima Optique

Shane Baum, Leisure Society

Their immediate goals will include runway partnerships, ready to wear collaborations, and a CFDA Press Day for Eyewear Designers, slated for 2015.

Today marks the first day you can mix your Parisian and Californian sensibilities in one perfect pair of shades.

Though Garrett Leight’s glasses are usually unisex, the L.A. eyewear designer’s new collaboration with Parisian shoe designer Amélie Pichard brings three unapologetically feminine styles inspired by three famous women. Available today on garrettleight.com, they’re described as such: “Grace, a bold frame with cool blue lenses inspired by Grace Jones, Juliette, a flirty tortoise frame with soft green lenses inspired by Juliette Lewis, and Pamela, a lively beige frame with gold lenses, appropriately named after Pamela Anderson.”

“I think everyone’s a little over space vibes,” designer Karolyn Pho mused backstage before her SS15 show. The designer’s new collection featured feminine materials, gorgeous plissé pleats, oversized paillettes, and masculine tailoring that translated a forward-thinking vibe grounded in her tried and true aesthetic, with a healthy dose of ’90s minimalism throughout — a prevailing decade found throughout many collections this season.

One of the pieces of the collection that the above sentiment rang most true for were the sunglasses Pho created in collaboration with Moscot. The crystal clear frames in a ’60s/’70s boxy, masculine shape echoed this futuristic-sans-space vibe with a touch of girly thrown in– pairs either featured flamingo pink or sky blue lenses. Totally wearable, totally future, without referencing Zenon.

What do we want? Custom sunglasses! When do we want them? Now, and pretty much always! But we’ll settle for a week’s wait, especially if it means choosing the lens shade, frame color and shape, and whether or not the glasses are matte. Now the chances of us and our best friends showing up to lunch in the same shades are close to nil. Garrett Leight, maker of functional, beautiful, quality sun and eyeglasses introduced the Modshop this summer, and last week, I took to the web to check it out. Rose colored, mirrored lenses? Check. Matte-ified, tortoise frames? Check, check. 42 mm lenses to fit my face and eyes perfectly? Yep, check. Sold. It’s taking everything in me not to go back and customize a second pair… maybe with *Rolex* colored lenses this time…

Make your own custom pair of Garrett Leight sunnies online at the Modshop, then get at us with your sunny selfies on Instagram.

Every creative industry has its fringe characters, oddballs who don’t seem to fit, even in alternative circles. For the fashion industry, this is the eccentric German designer Bernard Willhelm. Since debuting his first Paris collection in 1999 he has been crafting a world that is all his own, filling it with outrageous colors, textures, shapes and patterns. In recent years he has gained even more notoriety for a range of successful collabs including Camper, Opening Ceremony, and the Berlin based eyewear brand MYKITA. Now in its fifth year MYKITA & Bernhard Willhelm have announced their latest collection of dazzlingly reflective frames, adding the Ursula and the Erwin into the fold.